Friday, July 31, 2015

Yesterday, Donald Trump appeared on “The Palin Update,” a show dedicated to all things Palin. After Trump hailed Palin as a “tough and smart” leader who bravely stood up to “disgusting lies,” host Kevin Scholla asked the GOP presidential candidate, “If there is a Trump administration, could you see picking up the phone, giving the governor a call and picking her brain on some things, or perhaps having her along in some official capacity.”

“I’d love that,” Trump replied. “Because she really is somebody who knows what’s happening and she’s a special person, she’s really a special person and I think people know that.”

“Everybody loves her,” he added. Trump went on to say that unlike the former half-term Alaska governor, his current Republican rivals are “weak” and “ineffective” leaders “to a degree that’s actually almost hard to believe.”

Voters, Trump explained, “like the Sarah Palin kind of strength, you just don’t see very much of it anymore.”

The Gadfly sincerely laments having to state this, but if this fails to convince any of you who are still squirming on the fence about the legitimacy of Donald Trump's presidential qualifications, then The Gadfly simply has to believe that you are hopelessly delusional.

A clear majority of this country's voters have already passed judgement on Caribou Barbie's fitness for high office and if anyone is still uncertain as to the outcome of that judgement, just ask John McCain what it feels like to have forever forfeited the right to run again for POTUS.

Trump is cuckoo for cocoa puffs. The Gadfly for the life of his self cannot fathom one single fucking major policy issue that he would give a rat's goddamn ass as to what Sarah Palin's position might be on it. Not one. Zilch.

The woman has more empty space between her ears than the Alaskan tundra. The Gadfly is convinced that if Donald Trump were to attempt to "pick" Sarah Palin's brain on any subject, he would find nothing but dust bunnies and cobwebs formed eons ago and long since abandoned. In fact, Trump could drive an excavator in to Palin's brain to dig around and be sorely pressed to come up with very much of anything of intellectual value.

Sadder yet is that Trump's sucking up to Caribou Barbie is yet another in a blitzkrieg of cynical moves by him to burnish his credentials with the wingnut base and unfortunately for his opponents and fellow passengers in the GOP presidential clown car, it is working with devastating effect to the detriment of their own presidential ambitions.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) claimed that if people could bring their guns to the movies, they could have prevented the movie theater shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana, Thursday evening.

"These concepts of gun-free zones are a bad idea. I think that you allow the citizens of this country -- who have been appropriately trained, appropriately backgrounded, know how to handle and use firearms -- to carry them," he told CNN’s Jake Tapper Sunday. “I believe that, with all my heart, that if you have the citizens who are well trained, and particularly in these places that are considered to be gun-free zones, that we can stop that type of activity, or stop it before there's as many people that are impacted as what we saw in Lafayette."

Yeah ... because The Gadfly just can't wait for the opportunity for him to be in a movie theater with his grand children and some kid inflates and slap pops a popcorn bag and 30 Yosemite Sam wannabes jump up and start firing at each other.

Ahhhhh shaddddup!

If Bug's reply to the arrogant and stupid little gun nut Yosemite Sam was good enough for him, it's good enough for The Gadfly to say the same to Rick Perry.

Errmm . . . . Hey Lindsay . . . . not sure if you noticed - but The Gadfly is pretty darn certain that you just referred to the base voting bloc of the modern-day GOP as "the dark side."

Not that The Gadfly will argue the point. Not at all. Graham is actually right on the money, even if it wasn't his intention. Trump, along with his massive ego and equally sized mouth, is the chosen megaphone for the conservative right at this time. He is them. He represents their views.

The Gadfly is not repentant one bit when he states that the people who have a hard-on for Trump and his bull in a china shop idiocy truly are some of this country's worst citizens if they believe that foisting a hamfisted clod like The Donald on to the world stage to represent our great country is something to be proud of.

But then again we are talking about the same people who thought this person was a dandy choice to be put in to position of world power:

God almighty .... when The Gadfly thinks just how close this nation came to having that half-wit woman a heartbeat away from the nuclear codes, it sends a tremendous shudder rumbling through his old hippie body.

Point being about all of this -- Lindsay Graham need not apologize for calling the 28% lunatic fringe conservatives in this country "the dark side" --- it's a label they have earned over and over again with their political assholery and demonstrable hatred of representative democracy.

The Gadfly was going to restrain himself from paying much attention to the Kafkaesque wasteland of American politics this week, but like the horrific freeway auto wreck that you just can't turn your eyes from, news (well, not news to The Gadfly anyway) of this came zip lining across the intertoobz:

Donald Trump Extends Lead In New Poll After McCain Comments

Donald Trump’s rise in the Republican contest for the 2016 presidential nomination doesn’t appear to have been slowed much – at least not yet – by the recent controversy over his criticisms of Arizona Sen. John McCain’s war record last weekend. In fact, although Trump’s favorable ratings among Republicans have declined, he is still ahead – and far ahead – when Republicans are asked to choose among the 16 currently announced candidates.

Which simply validates the observation that The Gadfly made in a recent post about Trumps tactics - namely that the nastier and more arrogantly obtuse he gets, it just simply gets the right wing conservatives prematurely ejaculating in their jockey shorts. They love nasty and arrogant and obtuse. Those characteristics in an individual are the embodiment of who they are themselves and as a movement, and Trump, who is about as buffoonish, brutish and conceited as they come, is their dream date presidential candidate come true to life.

And it's only getting better - observe:

No Republican presidential candidate is safe from Donald Trump.

The billionaire businessman set his sights on another contender for the White House Saturday in Iowa, aiming to knock Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker down a peg after reports surfaced of a Walker fundraiser calling Trump a "DumbDumb."

The Republican presidential candidate criticized Walker's handling of the Wisconsin budget, saying the state is "doing terribly" and "in turmoil."

"The roads are a disaster because they don't have any money to rebuild them. They're borrowing money like crazy," Trump said. "They projected a one billion dollar surplus and it turns out to be a deficit of 2.2 billion dollars. And money all over the place."

Oh dear! The billionaire industrialist polluting Koch Brother's pet poodle Scott Walker calls The Donald a "dumb dumb," and The Donald comes roaring back and blares to the world how the Wisconsin Tea Party governor's incompetence has fucked up the economy in that state, which to Trumps credit, is actually the truth. And the red welt on Scott Walker's ass begins to swell from the lashing as he whimpers his way back to safety beneath the Koch's petticoat.

Oh my - where are the smelling salts??!! The Gadfly can only react to this news of the GOPer's ankle biting each other to shreds and meekly allowing the bully Trump to bitch slap them around just one way:

Haha! If Trump keeps this up, come next November, the democrats are going to be offering up legislation to add a likeness of Trump's massive head to Mount Rushmore as political payback for his heroic contribution to the effort at sending Hillary Clinton back to the White House.

This comedy freak show is just getting started dear readers and if the Democrats were smart (not a given sadly) they would keep their mouths shut and let Trump do his damage.

It really is getting to the point of not just pass the popcorn, but pass the nachos and break out the Goobers and Dots as well!

Sunday, July 19, 2015

The Gadfly wants a vibrant, moral, strong, economically and socially equitable America for his children and grandchildren.

The current crop of fascist clowns in the GOP presidential clown car do not in any way, shape or form impress The Gadfly or give him much faith that they give a fucking rat's ass about The Gadfly's children's and grandchildren's futures.

They care much more about their goddamn socio-political movement and the oligarchs who are funding it than they do about the country's future on whole, much less about this planet's future.

They are unworthy of trust to lead this country forward in to the the middle part of the 21st century. The fact they were willing to put this idiot a heartbeat away from the presidency is proof enough:

Look at the deer in the headlights look at the initial question -- then listen to the empty-headed, beauty queen answer:

The late, great George Carlin said it best about why he abhorred the mindless jingoism and breast-beating idiocy of nationalism:

And of course, he was right. He was always right about shit. Symbols and flags and nationalistic chest thumping ..... it's all so childish and yet the human race is still encumbered here in the 21st fucking century by this idiocy. We have a fucking planet that is slowly dying before our very eyes and we're still fighting the political, religious and social wars of centuries past.

Perhaps Carlin was right when in one of his final interviews he talked about the impending doom of the human race and why he lost faith in their endeavors:

This might shock some of The Gadfly's dear readers, but The Gadfly actually does not share George's total disillusionment with the human species. Here's why ... The Gadfly knows that Darwin's theory of evolution, if anything, has taught us that intelligent, self interested behavior by creatures of the animal kingdom, including we humanoids, will weed out the defective breeds and the smarter ones will survive. The Gadfly pins much of his hope on that tenuous thesis -- providing of course that the lunatics like Palin and ilk never gain power and blow up the fucking planet just to spite that intelligence in the interim.

Inimitable blogger Digby was ruminating on the confusion by some in the media on reconciling the right's contradictory views about and reactions to the most recent mass shootings in the U.S.

And quite honestly, her simplistically blunt observation on the matter should be the end-all one.

Period.

If a white American does this it's just a sad fact of life, they have problems and there's nothing we can do except maybe give everybody more guns. If a black person did this it would have been because he was a thug and belonged in jail long ago. If a Latino did it we need to build a wall and deport as many of them as possible. If a Muslim did it, it's an act of war. There's nothing confusing about it.

The Gadfly appreciates it when people reformulate seemingly complex matters and puts them in to straightforward, unambiguous terms. It makes The Gadfly's job of passing on an important message all that more easier.

The Gadfly is not typically one to revel in the misery of others, however, if said misery is afflicting people whom The Gadfly generally despises and feels are deserving of the misery, then there is no reason for The Gadfly to feel any measurable amount of guilt over the matter.

Observe:

Donald Trump might finally have crossed the line.

Appearing on Saturday at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, the real estate mogul took his running feud with Arizona Sen. John McCain to a new level.

“He’s not a war hero,” said Trump. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

Don't fret dear readers. The Gadfly is not laughing because he hates John McCain so much that he agrees with The Donald that McCain's 5 year stint in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp did not qualify him for hero status.

Not at all. John McCain is a hero for his courage and human spirit for enduring that horror.

No -- what truly has The Gadfly guffawing here is that all of this Trump presidential chicanery is all so predictable, and ultimately so satisfying to The Gadfly.

Let us count the ways shall we?

1. The Republican establishment and most of the GOP candidates are feigning shock over The Donald's low blow attack on McCain. The Gadfly cannot recall that these same Republicans defended the slanderous Swift Boat smear attacks on John Kerry's Vietnam service back in 2004 when Kerry was the Democratic presidential nominee going up against George W. Bush and his 2nd term. McCain at the time rightly condemned the dishonest attacks on Kerry (the sole get out of purgatory free card McCain possesses for foisting Sarah Palin on us all). So to hear Republicans tut-tutting over Trump's cheap attacks on McCain now simply underscores their penchant for amnesic hypocrisy in yet another unflattering light.

2. Trump is currently leading in most of the major polls for the GOP nomination. And The Gadfly is willing to wager that not even his gutter-level smear of John McCain will make much of a dent in that lead. The reason being is the GOP base (Tea Party) wants this kind of mean spirited behavior in their politicians. It is the hallmark of who they are -- mean, hateful, dishonest, obnoxious. Trump is simply channeling their inner neanderthal and they fucking love it. The simple fact of the matter is that The Republicans welcomed the Tea Party and the Trumpeteers into their tent with open arms -- and The Gadfly has always been of the belief that he who lies down with dogs, gets up with fleas -- and deservedly so.

3. McCain's own karma. Sigh. Sarah Palin as Vice President and a heartbeat away from the most powerful position in the world. McCain's single, devastating contribution to the dumbing down of the American political discourse, the cheapening of the office of POTUS, and putting the entire world in danger by putting that batshit insane ding-a-ling on the ticket. For that decision alone, it truly is difficult for The Gadfly to dredge up too much sympathy for McCain amid the attacks from the narcissistic, bankrupt prone, paper billionaire with a live animal toupee'.

Ultimately what this is is a classic case of what goes around, comes around, and the GOP's three decade long descent into the slime pit of lunatic fringe, xenophobic, cruel and selfish socio-political behavior is just the beginning of their comeuppance. It can only get nastier and uglier for them from here on out and The Gadfly cannot be any giddier at that prospect. Pass the popcorn!

It's comforting to know that even the seasoned pros become afflicted with the same malady which occasionally strikes The Gadfly.

Observe:

Out on the Weekend: The Blog Needs a Break from the Insanity

In preparation for the upcoming election push the blog is taking a short break, unless Donald Trump does something big. But first, a bit on the water crisis in California, the consequences of denying Medicaid expansion, the Emmy Awards, Lego robots, and feather dragon dinosaurs.

OK, so here's the deal. I'm closing the shebeen down for two weeks starting on Monday. It's time for a break before the real craziness starts this fall. I'll be back behind the mahogany right around the time the Republicans tee it up in Cleveland in August. If something really Trumpian YOOOOOOOOGE happens, I'll reopen. Otherwise, thanks for your continued patronage, ya magnificent bastids, and feel free to visit all the other fine establishments here along the docks of Blogistan, too.

What Esquire's Charlie Pierce is talking about here is the need to occasionally just step away from the toxic sphere of influence and increasingly depressing idiocy and group-think dementia that is incessantly being promulgated by the Neanderthals in the modern day, American conservative movement.

The Gadfly knows of no mortal being that can withstand the daily grind of observing and commenting on the conservative's assholery without being driven to excessive drink, chronic depression, or even madness.

This truly is the kind of corrosive effect which these people have not only on individual onlookers such as The Gadfly, but also on this nation's spiritual well-being and soul as a whole.

Best practice for sane, caring, regular observers of politics in this country is to - once one begins to feel that funk of depression settling in like the brown blanket of smog that hangs over the Los Angeles basin on a hot summer day - just flip off the switch. Turn off the internet, turn off the television and radio, don't even read any newspapers or any of your favorite blogs. It is vitally important to just totally disconnect from all of it until such time that your mind and spirit have regained sufficient vitality to wade back in to the turgid cesspool which comprises the conservative movement's mindset, and engage the fight all over again.

And thus explains The Gadfly's own intermittent blackouts from posting to his own shitty little blog, for after 10+ years of blogging, The Gadfly is cognizant of the health of his own state of mind more than anyone and knows better enough when it is time to step back from the virulent psychosis that is modern conservatism.

Nonetheless, as with Brother Pierce, The Gadfly will always come back to take the fight to those who would seriously fuck with the future well being and quality of life of not only his own children and grandchildren, but for all those other Americans, who even if they are not motivated enough or valiant enough to enlist in this crucial battle, are still deserving of someone to stand up on their behalf to confront conservatives and their life-sucking ideals and medieval governing policies, which if left unchecked can only result in the catastrophic failure of this great American experiment, and by proxy, the wretched death of hope for a better future for all of mankind.

So take that well-deserved break Mr. Pierce. See you back on the battlefield in a couple of weeks.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Ahhh ... The Gadfly loves the smell of Hypocrisy in the morning .... smells like . . . . Victory! ... Well, ok, maybe not victory, but at bare minimum, point goddamn proven.

Observe:

Scott Walker is a big, old backer - read sockpuppet - of the NRA. He loves them NRA campaign donations so much he is willing to risk poor optics time and time again to give them some love. In return, the NRA showers him with campaign donations and an A+ rating.

Yup, Walker is a real gun nut supporter...unless those guns are anywhere fucking near his precious ass.

In his invitation to his official kick off to his presidential campaign, which he has been running for four and a half years, Walker asks people to leave their guns at home:

Prohibited Items: All attendees will go through airport-like security and should bring as few personal items as possible. No large bags, sharp objects, signs, umbrellas, liquids, aerosol containers, guns, ammunition, fireworks, electric stun guns, mace, selfie-sticks, martial arts weapons/devices, or knives of any size will be allowed in the venue.

Just don't hold your breath waiting for Walker to admit guns kill. He gets paid a lot of money not to say that.

The fucking little coward. If he's so enamored with guns, guns, guns everywhere, and with the concept of "good guys with guns" will take of the bad guys with guns, then why isn't he allowing people, who are presumably backers of his - and good guys! - to tote their loaded AK-47's and Tec-9's at his presidential announcement party??

The Gadfly will tell you why ... because Scott Walker, like the rest of the NRA boot-licking politicians is very aware of the danger of allowing locked and loaded human beings, some drunk, some doped up on prescription drugs, some with anger management issues, some possibly with mental health issues, some possibly with even personal or political vendettas -- anywhere near his self-important ass. Oh sure .. he follows the NRA's marching orders and votes to allow these same assholes to open carry in our communities among our families and children and in our public gathering places like malls, restaurants, airports, etc., but by God, not at one of his political rallies!

It's been some time since The Gadfly has experienced truly glorious and fulfilling laughter at the expense of conservatives - truly it has. As such, this got The Gadfly to guffawing quite heartily . . . .

With the crowded field of Republican hopefuls showing signs of turning the primary into a ballroom brawl, several of the party’s best-known megadonors are trying to keep the peace. Conservative billionaire investor Foster Friess is leading the effort to stanch the infighting, according to the Associated Press, along with two fellow GOP powerbrokers, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts.

“Our candidates will benefit if they all submit to Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment, 'Thou shall not speak ill of a fellow Republican,'” Friess wrote to Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus in a letter obtained by the AP. “Would you join the effort to inspire a more civil way of making their points? If they drift off the 'civility reservation,' let's all immediately communicate that to them.”

Ok - so a handful of GOP billionaire kingmakers are pleading with their clown car full of presidential candidates, with special mention to "the Donald" it appears, to play nice and stop saying nasty things about each other. They are imploring their puppets to be more "civil."

Muahahahahahaha!! Hoo wee!!! Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Don't these clowns know who the Republican party's base consists of these days? Are they that seriously out of touch about the transformation that has occurred in the GOP this past decade?

The Gadfly has news for the billionaire GOP boys club -- the Republican base doesn't know squat about civility. Civility most certainly is not a trait to be found anywhere in their DNA. The Republican base is primarily made up of war mongering torture lovers, paranoid gun fetishist sociopaths, old school southern racists and xenophobes, American Taliban bible thumping end timers, and shut-in conspiracy theorists -- in other words, the Tea Party.

These people thrive on hate and fear and group-think paranoia and utter distrust of anyone who doesn't think like they do. Civility is a sign of weakness to them, and if you do not believe that, explain to The Gadfly as to why then, right after Donald Trump openened his fat stupid piehole and let his racist, hateful, birther freak flag fly this past week, he vaulted in the polls to a dead heat tie with establishment favorite Jeb Bush on the GOP's presidential favorites list? Hmm?

It's because the GOP base worships that kind of incivility. Trump is simply channeling the hate filled, arrogant, boorish attitude that is the hallmark of the modern day American conservative movement. And the fact that he is behaving like the pin-headed asshole that he is, and giving the middle finger to the mainstream media while doing so undoubtedly sends a vicarious thrill down the legs of the Teabaggers.

What is doubly hilarious about all of this is the simple reality that the Tea Party loons are actually under the illusion that these billionaire sugar daddies truly give a shit about them and their bourgeois lives, their economic problems and social views, or the future of their children and grandchildren. They don't. They never have. They never will. They have their own power-seeking agenda and the Tea Party is just another tool in their arsenal which they will exploit and use until they are no longer useful to their end goals at which point they will be discarded like a used condom.

But The Gadfly, believe it or not dear readers, is actually kind of thankful for Donald Trump and the incivility of his one-man assclown show. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the damage that Trump is doing to the Republican party and it's brand is infinitely more substantial than anything that the gutless Democrats have been able to inflict on the right wing's political ambitions over the past 3 decades -- and that quite honestly -- is something we dirty fucking hippie liberals ought to be humbly grateful for.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

The Gadfly has no doubts whatsoever that ISIS would welcome this sick fuck into their ranks with open and bloody arms:

Pastor Steven Anderson, of Faithful Word Baptist Church, called for stoning to death ministers who performed same-sex marriage ceremonies and repeated his call for the execution of all LGBT people.

“I hate them with a perfect hatred,” Anderson shouted. “I count them mine enemies.”Anderson said the Bible consistently called Christians to “have the guts to stand up to our culture that is now accepts homos.”

“Where’s the call to repentance?” Anderson said. “Where’s the hope, where’s the love and the grace? It isn’t there.”

Not speaking on behalf of anyone else, but this truly ought to be cause for The Gadfly, and any other rational American to rethink that whole terrorist meme of "we're fighting them over there, so we don't have to fight them here," malarkey -- especially so, when by all available evidence, "them" are already "here", are in our communities, are fomenting murderous violence as is this asshole, and all the while pretending to be moral, upstanding citizens.

It is becoming clearer by the day that these right-wing, fundamentalist Christians have the same insane religious and ideological views as as the black clad barbarians in Iraq and Syria and it is long past time for a civilized and truly moral society to put these medieval minded boors in to their rightful societal place - namely the darkest, dankest fringes of society where they can stew in the shit and mire of hate, cruelty and moral turpitude of their own creation.

The Gadfly does not find it a pleasant thing to hate people, but there are some of his fellow Americans that The Gadfly simply cannot find any reasonable motive to stanch his feelings of loathing for, and this fake, disgusting "man of God" most certainly is one of them.

And with that proclamation, The Gadfly it would seem, endorses hate -- albeit hate of the hateful.

It's Charlie Pierce . . . with about the best thing one could possibly read about this nation's birth holiday. An excerpt . . .

As we come up to the 239th celebration of the independence for which Ms. Warren so brilliantly agitated, we do so at a strange time. Vague warnings about a terrorist threat are all over the airwaves. Once again, we are told to be vigilant and terrified, but to go on with our lives. Elsewhere, a healthy debate has opened up over the ultimate meaning of patriotism, and what symbols we will accept as its national expression. As to the first, it must be repeated again and again that, as Edward R. Murrow said when he stepped up against Joseph McCarthy:

We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men -- not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.

Not from fearful women, either, as Mrs. Warren undoubtedly would have reminded him.

Sigh . . . the idiocy just never ends with these pea-brained gun fetishists, and their stupidity-laced shtick is getting old real quick.

Observe:

A Fort Bragg soldier walked through a bustling mall Friday armed with an assault rifle — planning to have his picture taken.

Instead, Bryan Scott Wolfinger, 25, terrified patrons and sent the shopping center into lockdown. He was arrested and charged with going armed to the terror of the public, the Fayetteville Observer reported.

More than 20 police officers rushed to the Cross Creek Mall shortly after 6:30 p.m. responding to reports of “a subject armed with an assault rifle walking through Macy’s.” Police found Wolfinger near the department store with an AR-15 assault rifle, rounds of ammunition and a Kevlar vest.

He was detained without incident, and told police he was there to have photos of himself taken holding military equipment.

The mall went into lockdown without warning, shaken shoppers said, and it remained secured for more than an hour.

Once again, on the record, and for the 38th bazillionth goddamn time, The Gadfly is NOT anti-gun. The Gadfly is anti-violent assholes and anti-morons with guns. Unfortunately, this country is chock full of both of those demographic groups (violent assholes and morons in case you didn't get the inference).

The Gadfly has a question for the NRA boot licking politicians who have dutifully performed the bidding of Wayne LaPierre's death cult by passing these narcissistic open carry laws in their states ... how the fuck are we rational, normal thinking Americans supposed to know whether the sullen faced, bullet-proof vest wearing, assault rifle toting jagoff, who has just waltzed in to whatever public venue we happen to be frequenting with our families including children, on a given day, supposed to instantly decipher whether the gun goon's intentions are benign or murderous??

And just who do you think the NRA is going to blame when one of these days - and you know it's just a matter of time before it occurs - some jackass like this clown shows up at the mall with his penis extension, er... AK-47, and another heat packing ammosexual misreads his intentions and starts opening fire, which obviously will draw return fire from Mr. AK-47 and next thing you know you have bullets flying everywhere between two so-called "good guys with guns" with the only casualty being innocent bystanders? The Gadfly will tell you who the NRA will blame -- Obama and liberals -- for supposedly inculcating the "irrational" fear of guns in to people for no good reason. And yet not for one nano-second will these lizard brain fucksticks reflect as to why it is that some people might truly be fearful of encountering a stranger in a public place armed to the teeth with weaponry whose primary purpose is to kill humans in mass numbers.